THE EARTHQUAKE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2390, 4 January 1909, Page 5

THE EARTHQUAKE.

FEAR OF PESTILENCE-

ORGANISING RELIEF.

NARROW ESCAPE OF KING

EMANUEL

Cnited Pbess Association- Copyright

- ROME, Jan. 1. •tS' The first great shock of earthquake lasted 37 second's. It was followed by four tidal wares.

Deputy Fulci lay injured in a ruined collar for 15 hours, and was then suffocated. His brother heard his cries, but .was unable to relieve him.

Two priests were the only survivors at Scylla. They were in the vault'of a church, which alone withstood the shocks.

Ihe captain, of the steamer Umbria saw famished survivors at Reggio killing and eating dogs.

The British military' attache at Rome proceeded to Messina to intercept the steamers Ophir and 1 Bremen, and request them to render assistance.

The American ship Celtic brings 32,000 dollars’ worth of clothing, shoes, tents, and food. Italian and other naval authorities are organising relief.

When after being at Reggio, King Emanuel revisited Messina, a building of five storeys fell at his feet. Captains report that the bed of the sea in the Strait’s of Messina has* risen ten feet.

THE RELIEF FUNDS.

A CANADIAN GRANT

OTTAWA, Jan. 1. The Canadian Government has granted £20.,000 for the relief fund.

PARIS, Jan. 1 The French list totals £BOOO.

RAILWAY TRAINS ENGULFED.

A GIRL’S HEROISM

(Received Jan. 3, 4.15 p.m.)

ROME, Jan. 2

A wave on Monday engulfed two trainfuls of passengers leaving Reg-

A girl twelve years old, a boarder at a convent at Monte Leone, repeatedly returned to tlio tottering building and rescued three nuns and four of her girl companions.

PESTILENCE THREATENED. THE KING’S GRIM TELEGRAM. (Received Jan. 3, 4.10 p.m.) " ROME, Jan. 2. ■-The Duke of Aosta, while exploring ■at Palmi, stumbled against a corpse still clutching money and bank notes. He attempted to raise a moribund survivor, who died in his arms. King Emanuel telegraphed .to Signor Giolliti. Premier, to send ships, still more ships, above all, ships laden with quicklime. Correspondents emphasise that pestilence is threatened unless the survivors are speedily removed from the scene of the disaster. Ocean liners are assisting to remove them. It is believed that most of those buried in the ruins are now dead. It will be necessary to cover the ruins with quicklime to prevent pestilence. Provisions are abundant. The Marquis Semnola is §£ill cued in a cellar at Messina, but possesses ‘provisions.

OUTBREAKS OF RUFFIANISM.

MARTIAL LAW PROCLAIMED

(Received Jan. 3, 4.15 p.m.) ROME, Jan. 2. Tho newspaper “Tribuno” states f ‘hat out of 20,000 survivors at Messina one-fourth are the dregs o'f the population, requiring to be restrained by armed, force. Many suicides and cases of madness are reported. Rain is falling in torrents. As a measure of precaution against madness, all dogs and cats are being killed. Many famished people are eating them. The military overpowered 80 dangerous criminals indulging in wholesale robbery. Reggio and Messina have been placed under martial law. The troops shot two of a famished mob attempting to plunder a bank safe.... .

FURTHER EARTHQUAKES PREDICTED. A MOTHER’S ADVENTURE. ... (Received Jan. 3, 4.15 p.m.) ROME, Jan. 2. Father Albani,, of the Florence Observatory, predicts a continuance of seismic disturbances for several years. The survivor® at Santa Aeufemia were without food for 48 hours. Princess , Lev alio was viewing the sunrise at Taormina when the earthquake occurred. She hastily returned to Messina, and found the Lucio pol- - ace in ruins. Fancying she heard the . voices of her daughters under the jjtruins, she commenced scraping away 'y. with her hands and nails, and rescued two unknown, children.' Then her husband appeared and told her that her

daughters had safely lowered themselves by a rope of shoots. They also rescued two babies, whom the Princess adopts.

ESTIMATE OF PROPERTY DESTROYED.

SIXTY NINE MILLIONS

(Received Jan. 3, 4.15 p.m.)

ROME, Jan. 2

It is estimated that eight millions of private property at Messina* and 40 millions at Reggio, 12 millions worth of fortifications in the Straits of Mes-~ sina, and nine millions worth of docks and harbor works have been ruined. The Admiralty intercepted the steamer Ophir and diverted her to Reggio, whence she conveyed 750 refugees and avoundedrto Naples. The Orient Company’s Messina agent perished in the disaster.

KING EMANUEL’S GRATITUDE

ITALIAN SELF-HELP

(Received Jan. 3, 4.15 p.m.)

ROME, Jan. 2,

King Emanuel telegraphed to King Edward his whole-hearted thanks for the British-officers’ and sailors’ great work of charity. It is officially stated that much more than half on both sides of the Straits of Messina perished.

British . admirals report that the topography of the Straits has not -altered.

All Italy is co-operating with the Sovereigns, princes, and Ministers. Splendid arrangements are being made to afford relief. Thousands of beds are being offered ,to the authorities. The Neapolitan aristocracy lent hundreds of motor-cars. Queen Helene 'personally attended to the wants of the patients at Messina yesterday, and sewed garments.

THE SUBSCRIPTIONS.

GENEROUS DONATIONS

(Received Jan. 4, 12.5 a.in.)

ROME, Jan. 2

The Pope contributed £4OOO, the Colloge of Cardinals £BOO, the Dowager Queen Margherifca £BOO, Lord Rosebery £400". New York’s Friday’s subscriptions totalled £40,000, and those from San Francisso £12,000. Chicago proposes to send £20,000, and Boston £IO,OOO. Besides the Steel Corporation., the J. L. Moran Co. gave £6OOO, Mr. Busch, brewer, of St. Louis, £SOOO, the “Christian Herald,” New York,, £4000; the Board of Aldermen of New York £20,000. The Lord Mayor’s fund in Lonclon is over £20,000.

OTTAWA, Jan. 2. The Goverments- of Ontario and Quebec gia*e £SOOO each,- and other Canadian provinces, less the city of OttaAA’.a, £IO,OOO.

NEW ZEALAND INACTIVE.

ONLY A LIST IN CHRISTCHURCH

At the request of the Italian' Con-sul-General for Australasia, the Italian Consular Agent .here (Mr. Thos. Wallace) has opened a subscription list for the relief of the sufferers by the earthquake, and so far has received two guineas. At Mr. Wallace’s request the Mayor has agreed fc> open a list at the- City Council Chambers on Monday.

CAUSES AND EFFECTS.

THE OPINIONS OF SEISMOLOGISTS.

On receipt of the news of the appalling earthquake in Italy, the “New Zealand Times” interviewed the gentleman who is undoubtedly best qualified to express an opinion on the scientific aspect of the disaster which has plunged the civilised world into mourning. This is. Mr. Geo. Hogben, Inspector-General of Schools, who is a seismologist of more than local reputation. MR. HOGBEN’S VIEWS. “People,” said Mr, Tlogben, “connect earthquakes with volcanic action, but. there is only a small class of earthquakes caused by such action, in the same way that an explosion in a mine would cause a shaking of the earth. These, however, are generally of a local character, and do not cover'll \fide area. For instance, the earthquakes at JRotorua at tho time of the eruption in 1886, and those at Whakatane lately, were of that description, and were not felt far away. These were due to the explosion of steam and other gasses, but they were not earthquakes of the kind that make big disturbances; they are entirely different. PRIMARY CAUSES “It may be said that there are two primary causes, of earthquakes. One is the unequal shrinkage of layers of the earth’s crust. The consequence of that is that rocks nearer, to the surface are really too large to occupy the space they would naturally fall into as the inner part of the crust shrinks. - Therefore, the outer crust must crumble and become contorted in various ways in order to repack itself; it has got to repack itself .according to the space available. That repacking generally takes place about certain lines or planes, Usually called axes. This Movement of ro-packmg loads to the .movement, of- the rocks along its axis or parallel to them, forming -various kinds of .faults. “This!faulty nioyem%nt?‘i?tH,at,iitakos place is generally very small,_ but now and then there! is..'.a! little -instability of thorc. wdll ..bo sudden movements. '-t Th at .gives : rise to vibrations of different.kinds-which, gd over the whole of the-'"eartli’s crust, "if the movement is .at .all considerable. . These vibrations we call earthquakes;; \vd\i'ch':'may, pfoducekeeondary

effect's,\ throwing down rock's that may open chasms, and in their train bringing down buildings, etc. Nearly all these results are secondary results. Of course, sometimes it ballpens that ,a place is on an actual •mass that is moved. That is-not secondary. For instance, in 1885 in Wellington the actually moving mass ' reached right up to the surface, and raised the land surface- around Wellington higher. That was not secondary, but primary. EARTHQUAKES NOT IMPORTED.

“No, we manufacture our earthquakes on the spotri Wo don’t import them from Italy, South America, or elsewhere. It is the adjustment that is going on below this part of the Pacific that is entirely responsible for the earthquakes here. There is not even any* connection between ourselves,''South Australia, and Tasmania >in this" respect. I have studied this .question for many years. I cannot find a single piece of evidence to bear out such a contention, and I have examined closely into every earthquake that has occurred in the Pacific for the last twenty years. Anyone who would say there avas any possible connection is rather going beyond his facts. Some people think that earthquakes come from sultry aveather, for instance. OTHER EXPERIENCES.

“In regard to the Mount Pelee eruption, in 1902, you Avill -recollect that it Avas preceded by seven earthquake shocks, the*-first being felt at Guatemala, others following betAveen April and May, in the Caribbean Sea, to the Avest of St. Vincent and Martinique, folloAved by the eruption of La Soufriere, and a small eruption of Mount Pelee. On May Bth, just j before the big eruption, there Avas another earthquake movement right on the axis on which Mount Pelee is situated. This series A\-ould be the folding movements of the earthquakes, beginning with the avestern mass and ending in the east on the | axis on which Mount Pelee _ stood, -and on the west side of av-hich La Soufriere stood. The probability is that this folding - relieved the strain of the rocks and alloAved tlie accumulated steam and other gases to find vent because of that relief. That is my theory of it, and the theory of others. It is rather significant that other eruptions in the same region have been preceded by similar folding movements and earthquakes to the Avestward, so it looks as if in that part of the avorld the earthquakes bad indirectly caused the eruption. The steam A\-as there before, but the pressure Avas relieved in consequence of the movements avhieli caused the earthquakes. CAUSE OF THE PRESENT SHOCK “As to the cause of the present ‘earthquake in Italy, without fuller details, it can only bo surmised, but the probability is that it Avas due to a fault movement- along the axis of Calabria. Taking the avorld generally, the evidence of the relation between fault movements -and earthquakes is pretty convincing.”

A BYGONE DISASTER. THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE OF '1783. The earthquake which devastated Calabria in 1783 is the subject of a chapter in Professor E. J. Houston's “Volcanoes and Earthquakes.” The southern part of Italy, lie states, is subject to frequent earthquake shocks. Pignatari, an Italian physician, asserts that the region was visited during 1783 by no leaver than 949 earthquakes, of Avhicli 501 were of the firstclass or degree of intensity, Avliile in 1784 there Avere 151 earthquakes, oi Avhicli 98 Avere of the first-class. 'lt seems that the city of Opoido, midAvay betaveen the two coasts of Calabria, was the point from Avhicli the terrible earthquake of 1783 started. The great Calabrian earthquake Avas attended by numerous shocks. The first -and most severe shock, that of February 5., 1783, lasted tAVO minutes, and destroyed most of the "houses in all the-cities, tOAvns, and villages on the Avestern side of the Apennines in this part of Italy. Another shock occurred on March 28, almost a-s severe ns that of February 5. The heaving of the surface of the earth like the Avaters of the sea, so common in severe earthquakes, occurred'-during the Calabrian shocks. In some places the heaving so shook the trees- that they bent until their tops touched the ground near the- base. Parts of -the ground Avere violently thrown upwards into the air as in the explosive type of earthquakes.' In many instances ■the large paving stones were thrown into the air -and afterwards found with their lower portions upwards. Deep fissures were made in the earth at various localities, and there Avert-, moreoA r er, marked changes of level. At Messina the shore avas fissured and rent, and Avliile before the convulsion the-surface had been level it aa r as aiterwards found to be inclined toavards the sea. According to Dolomieu a well in the ground of one of the convents of the Augustines, lined on the inside with stones, Avas so affected by the upAvard thrust given to the land that its stone lining -was left projecting above the level of the earth in the form of a small toAver some eight or nine feet high. Frequent instances occurred of deep fissures in the surface of the earth. Many of them remained open after the earthquake, although in other cases they Avere firmly closed together before the -shocks ceased.

Of course, the violent effects were hear the origin of the earthquake at Oppido. Here tlib formation of deep fissures were common. In another part of the country a number of buildings were suddenly swallowed up in a central chasm, which almost immediately closed, thus permanently burying all these objects. Some idea of the force with which the fissures were afterwards closed can be formed by reflecting on a case where, in order to recover some of-the buried articles,, the ground was dug up at these points, and it was found that the materials, human bodies, and other objects, were so jammed together as to. make one compact mass. To Sir William Hamilton a place was shown * where tlio.. fissures, though when he) saw them they were not more than a foot in width, had opened sufficiently wide during the shock to swallow‘.up a hundred; goats as well as .an ox. - ■ . , . An Earthquake that caused such marked changes in tho appearance of the earth’s surface naturally .made great changes ill the direction of the rivers. In one case the end of a small wallcy was -so completely filled with stones and dirt that the water was dammed up,, producing .a Jake two miles long and one mile broad.Jn a-feimilar nfanner lio. fewer than 21 o

lakes were formed in different portions of Calabria.

Lyell tells the i'olloaving story of the Prince of Scilla, Avho; with many of his vassals, sought safety in their fishing boats. Suddenly onrtho night of February 5, while some of the people were sleeping in the boats and others were resting on tlio low plain near the sea, in the neighborhood, another shock occurred, a great mass avas torn from a neighboring mountain -and hurled with a crash on the plain, and immediately afterwards a Avave taventy feet or more in height rolled over the level plain, sAveepmg aAvay the people. It then retreated, but spoil rushed back again, bringing avith it many of the bodies of the people Avho had perished. • At the same time all the boats Avere either sunk or dashed against the beach, and the Prince with 1430 of luVpeople was destroyed. The total number of deaths- caused by this earthquake in the. Calabrias and Sicily avas estimated by Hamilton at 40,000. Besides these about 20,000 perished in epidemics that folloaved the earthquake, or died for lack of food.